Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/993191
VOL. 55 ISSUE 23 JUNE 12, 2018 P123 the World, I'm gonna buy a motor- cycle.' We lived for the World and worshipped the date of our sched- uled return. For me, that date came unexpectedly. "On March 23, 1969, my heli- copter dived towards an enemy position with guns blazing, then plowed into a rice paddy and disin- tegrated. And after having survived a year in the air, I was medi- cally evacuated out of Vietnam, a 20-year old casualty of the war. "Recovery took a year but by then, I'd saved enough to buy a CB160, only to find the red ones sold out. I settled for silver. I rode the bike on the street for a while, then entered it in a race and scored a first-place trophy. No one claimed second or third; the other entry in my class broke. "In the years that followed, I outgrew the CB160 and a succes- sion of larger motorcycles came and went. About 30 over 45 years. Today, at age 69, I ride a Yamaha FJ-09, the best motorcycle in my stable of eight. But that stable is incomplete; it's missing the one I always wanted. A red CB160 with silver fenders and shiny splashes of chrome. "The Long Beach motorcycle swap meet is best patrolled in pairs, to protect us from ourselves. My wingman Darrell, a young pup of 41, is impulsive. A rusty tank, a bent fender, a headlight shell, will catch Darrell's eye and empty his wallet. Darrell's passion is to trans- form junk into motorcycles, either in his garage or in his head. My job is to rein him in. When Darrell fingers yet another painted part, I give counsel: 'Walk away D, just walk away. If you're still feelin' the burn' when we leave, we'll get it on the way out.' But when Darrell no- ticed me staring at the red CB160, he took his turn: 'Walk away Frans, just walk away…..' And so I did. "Over the next two hours, Darrell and I continued our rounds but the CB160 would not leave my mind. Then it was time to go and we headed for the exit—Darrell now carrying an 18-inch Akron wheel in one hand, a $10 Yamaha carbure- tor in the other. Darrell doesn't always listen to me. But at least he agreed that we should have one last look at the little red CB160. So we wandered over to its spot and found it, gone. Darrell offered consolation: 'If the seller brought it here, it's probably on Craigslist.' That night, my PC beeped with a message from my bud: 'Found it!' Just click on the link. "I waited two days to give 'the burn' a chance to subside. On the third day, I contacted the seller and asked what he knew of the bike. It was not a happy story. The seller said he was the third owner; the second owner found the bike at an estate sale. The original owner, a young man about 18, bought the bike in 1965 and rode it with care. There were no marks on the levers, grips or pegs; the CB160 had never been down. The odometer showed just 949 miles and the young man would surely have clocked more. But then one day, a letter came. From the Selective Service Administration. 'Greeting….' "Eventually, the young man was sent to Vietnam and surely spent many hours dreaming of the day he would ride his motorcycle again. To him, the red CB160 literally meant the World. And although I never knew him, we would have much in common. Except for this: I came home. "In a somber corner of a park in Washington DC, a black marble wall lists the names of 58,000 men lost in Vietnam. One of those names belongs to a young man who wanted nothing more than to ride his red CB160 again. When it became clear that he never would, his family tucked the bike away for 46 years. Not because it was memorable; because it was a memorial. Eventually, the estate was auctioned off and the CB160 changed hands twice until it found me. The motorcycle I always wanted, this motorcycle, is now in my garage. "To an unknown soldier on The Wall: My name is Frans; I was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam. I am the new steward of a bright red motorcycle that has silver fenders and shiny splashes of chrome. It belongs to you. But don't you worry my brother; your Honda CB160 is now in the best possible hands. Ride in peace." Frans VandenBroek